Washington (CNN) – House investigators are interviewing two front-line Internal Revenue Service employees from the Cincinnati tax exempt office this week in Washington, and plan to interview two others next week, two congressional sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN.

House investigators are hoping these IRS employees will shed light on exactly why tea party and other conservative groups were inappropriately targeted for excess scrutiny when applying for tax exempt status.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - CNN's latest health care poll, released Monday, has been in the political crossfire all week. Conservatives are using it as proof the policy is unpopular while liberals say it is an example for more aggressive policy on national health care.

As mentioned at the time, the national survey found that "a majority of Americans still oppose the nation's new health care measure, three years after it became law."FULL POST

(CNN) – It would be "regrettable" if the identities of the men photographed with Sen. John McCain in Syria this week are confirmed to be individuals responsible for a year-old kidnapping, the Arizona senator's office said in a statement Thursday.

There has been confusion and conflicting reports about who exactly the men pictured with McCain are, and whether or not they were involved in last year's kidnapping. CNN has been unable to confirm the identities of the men in the photograph. Nonetheless, McCain's office was quick to reject speculation the Republican knowingly met with men accused of the abduction.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – Several Republican senators are calling for an investigation into whether the head of Health and Human Services violated appropriations and ethics rules when she reportedly tried to raise funds for a group that is working to help put Obamacare in place.

"Major news outlets in recent weeks have reported that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is raising money from the private sector-including from health care executives-for use by a private entity, Enroll America, that is helping to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," the Republicans, who are the ranking members on several key committees, wrote the HHS inspector general on Thursday.FULL POST

(CNN) - A suspicious letter addressed to President Barack Obama intercepted Thursday in the Washington area appears to be connected to possibly poison-laced notes sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and an anti-illegal-gun group he founded, a law enforcement official said.

The official did not know the status of any testing on anything found in the letter and did not disclose any details about whether there was a message in the letter. The source said the letter appears similar to the notes sent to the mayor and his group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Washington (CNN) - A year and a half before the 2014 midterm elections, Americans are divided on whether they'll back Democrats or Republicans in the battle for Congress, according to a new national poll.

A Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday indicates voters nationwide are split at 38% on whether they'd back the Democrat or GOP candidate if elections for all 435 members of the House of Representatives were held today. A fifth of those questioned were unsure.FULL POST

(CNN) – No presidential campaign is perfect, Ann Romney admitted Thursday - even her husband's bid for the White House in 2012.

Speaking solo for the first time since November's election loss, Romney said on CBS she had no personal regrets from last year's effort, but conceded there were things everyone would have liked to do differently.FULL POST

(CNN) - Of the three major controversies plaguing the Obama administration in recent weeks, the drama surrounding the Internal Revenue Service is the most pressing to U.S. voters in a new survey.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, 44% of registered voters say the IRS probe of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status is the most important. A little fewer than a quarter - 24% - say the Obama administration's handling of last year's terror attack against a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, is of the most concern, while 15% say the same about the Justice Department's seizure of phone records of Associated Press reporters.FULL POST

Syria has already received the first shipment of an advanced Russian air defense system and will soon get the rest of the S-300 missiles, President Bashar al-Assad was quoted as saying on Thursday. "Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Assad as saying in an interview due to be broadcast later in the day. "The rest of the shipment will arrive soon." An interview with Assad will be released on Al Manar, a television station linked to Assad's ally, the Shi'ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah. Russia has said it would deliver the missile system to the Syrian government over Western objections, saying the move would help stabilize the regional balance.

Washington (CNN) - Attorney General Eric Holder's plans to sit down with media representatives to discuss guidelines for handling investigations into leaks to the news media have run into trouble.

The Associated Press issued a statement Wednesday objecting to plans for the meetings to be off the record. "If it is not on the record, AP will not attend and instead will offer our views on how the regulations should be updated in an open letter," said Erin Madigan White, the AP's media relations manager.FULL POST